Can Mickey Save the Dome?
UK — London’s Millennium Dome [“Doming Down the Millennium,” Spring 2000 EIJ] is taking a drubbing. The dome has been dubbed a “white elephant” and derided as a “vacuous, pompous, preachy, infantile sham.” With people staying away in droves, the Dome’s project manager was replaced by an executive from the EuroDisney theme park near Paris. The BBC recently sampled public opinion about the Dome. Here are some responses: “So, Tony Blair’s vision of ‘Cool Britannia’ is now to be run by a Frenchman on behalf of an insidious American company. Why is it such a flop? Maybe because it is contrived, derivative and smacks of state-sponsored ‘culture.'” “Who ever heard of a government building a theme park?” “The only thing that can ever be done to improve the Dome is to sell it.” “Turn it into a massive soup kitchen.” “There are many more ways to celebrate the new Millennium with 1 billion pounds … What about providing every school or hospital in the country with the necessary facilities and r
